As more and more people join explicit social networks that are part of an online social networking service, member engagement for members may increase or decrease. In some examples, an explicit social network (e.g., a social network for a specific member of an online social networking service) includes fewer than 10 members. In this example, member engagement may be limited because too few members are active in the explicit social network.
In another example, an explicit social network includes thousands of members. In this example, member engagement may decrease because there is too much content or too many messages causing members of the explicit social network to ignore content.
Some systems attempt to measure member engagement using network structural diversity; however, this attempt fails because expressing aggregate member engagement as a sum of individual engagement does not recognize engagement with internal communities of the network as will be further described.
A potential new member may or may not increase member engagement of an explicit network. Identifying a new member to add to an explicit social network within the online social networking service in order to increase engagement of members of the explicit social network is challenging.